Out of Sight, (shit) Out of Luck

I know the last eight years of tyrannical horror haven't completely robbed me of my humanity because I still find shit like this appalling.

Kudos to the Washington Post for having the balls to run this story about Gina Gray - the new Public Affairs Directors at Arlington Memorial Cometary - being run out of her job for trying to publicly honor our fallen soldiers.

Some choice cuts:

But in one area, Rummy's Rules still pertain: the attempt to hide from public view the returning war dead.

When Gina Gray took over as the public affairs director at Arlington National Cemetery about three months ago, she discovered that cemetery officials were attempting to impose new limits on media coverage of funerals of the Iraq war dead -- even after the fallen warriors' families granted permission for the coverage. She said that the new restrictions were wrong and that Army regulations didn't call for such limitations.

Six weeks after The Washington Post reported her efforts to restore media coverage of funerals, Gray was demoted. Twelve days ago, the Army fired her.

To break this down, just in case anyone who happens upon this post hasn't been keeping abreast of this situation (and there's a lot going on, so it's easy to miss this type of stuff), Donald Rumsfeld - known to all his close friends by his nickname, Satan - had this great idea for how to market the war in Iraq. They wouldn't allow for any real reporting of the horrors of war. In this way, they felt they could keep the people from turning against this war, a la Vietnam (a war in which the horrors were broadcast into every home in America).

This is pure genius. However, like much of the genius of the Bush administration, it has underlying insidious overtones, and it quickly tended toward the truly heartless. As troops began coming home in bodybags, they were not honored as many fallen soldiers have been in previous wars. Not only that, but the troops who have given their lives - given their lives to protect these freedoms that the men who run this country allegedly value so much - have been resoundingly ignored.

When Rummy left, there was a move to soften the image of the Defense Secretary. However, this apparently did not mean actually honoring American heroes. It simply meant a solid PR campaign for our new Defense Secretary, Robert Gates. People were fired, to be sure. But make no mistake. Nothing has actually changed.

Stories like this are the reason I refuse to talk shit on Obama for the next few months. Stories like this are the reason that I may stop speaking kindly to supporters of the opposition. Stories like this make me want to fucking vomit.

And if we don't do everything we can to make sure John McCain doesn't win the White House, we're just going to see more and more stories like this.

I'll leave you with this quote, my favorite from former Public Affairs Director, Gina Gray:

"Had I not put my foot down, had I just gone along with it and not said regulations were being violated, I'm sure I'd still be there," said the jobless Gray, who, over lunch yesterday in Crystal City, recounted what she is certain is her retaliatory dismissal. "It's about doing the right thing."

Indeed.